


PURPOSE

by taexual



Series: EXO by taexual [4]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 08:28:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19372987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taexual/pseuds/taexual
Summary: [pianist!reader] [fem!reader]chanyeol falls even deeper in love with you – and then discovers what is it that he wants the most in life –  as he listens to the gentle melody of your piano.





	PURPOSE

This was the first time Chanyeol was going to come to your recital since the two of you started to date a little over ten months ago. He’s heard you play before, of course, and even begged you to write the music for his next song – all while you claimed you’ve never actually written a piece of your own that would have been “good enough” by the standards you set for yourself – but he’s never seen you in such an official setting before tonight.

He wanted to check up on you backstage before heading into the venue, but he ended up not informing you about this – because he didn’t expect your piano teacher to be so aggressive – and therefore, he nearly got himself kicked out before he got to take the smallest peek at you.

“I swear, she’s my girlfriend,” he proceeded to insist, firmly hiding the flowers he’s brought for you behind his back. “I can call her right now, she’ll tell you.”

“Don’t you dare call her!” your teacher protested. “She needs some alone time to get herself ready and you need to get yourself out of here.”

“But I just—it’ll only take a moment!” he continued despite starting to feel scared of the glare on your teacher’s face. “I only want to wish her good luck. I’ve never seen any of her recitals before, I—”

“You’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted with how recitals work then,” she cut him off. “Now go. She needs to prepare.”

“Come on! It’ll only be—”

_“Chanyeol?”_

Both of them stopped arguing at the sound of your voice, turning to face you instead.

“Why are you here?” you asked, surprised to see him backstage.

Chanyeol could not reply, however, because the sight of you in a golden, sequin dress dryed his throat and seemed to knock all breath out of him. You haven’t even had your hair or your make-up done yet and, if you’d have asked him, he would have told you that you already looked completely ethereal just in this dress alone.

Never having witnessed you in attire this formal before, – tonight was truly full of firsts for him – Chanyeol was starting to suffocate from the lack of coherent thoughts in his mind. That almost never happened to him. Having written countless songs – most of them about you – he generally had plenty of compliments ready. But not this time.

“I’m—I came to wish you good luck,” he said, somehow managing to remember how to speak. “So, yes. Uh—g-good luck. Or, break a leg, I guess, right?”

This brought a smile to your face, soothing your nerves and causing Chanyeol’s heart to skip multiple beats.

“Right,” you said. “I’ll see you after, yeah?”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course,” he nodded, swallowing painfully as you gave him a quick wave and headed back into the changing room.

Your piano teacher – who stood between you and Chanyeol the entire time that the two of you were talking – cleared her throat, waking your boyfriend up from a trance he hadn’t realized your exit had put him in.

“Okay, I’m leaving,” he told her with a concealed groan. “It was nice to… meet you.”

She almost snickered, clearly unhappy that her top student – which she would never admit out loud, of course, but she showed how much she favored you in other ways – had a boyfriend who was this persistent. On the other hand, she did see you smile and seemingly relax once you saw him, and she’s never seen that happen in all the years that she was your teacher, so perhaps, the boy she was currently pushing into the hallway of the venue wasn’t that bad.

“She appreciates you coming,” your teacher informed him, softening at the last moment. “But do refrain from doing so in the future, please. She needs to collect herself before her recitals.”

Confused by the sudden change of her tone, Chanyeol just nodded and, after giving the door of your changing room another longing look, headed towards the concert room.

* * *

 

He was already excited to see you on stage but now that he’s actually seen what you look like, he couldn’t seem to sit still in his seat. He could already imagine how beautiful you’d look under the stage lights and how remarkable the music at your fingertips would sound.

He didn’t dare to look away from the stage, almost as if he was scared that if he blinked, he’d miss your whole performance – the setting in front of him felt a little too much like a dream for him to realize that it was all real – and he still ended up not realizing that you’d stepped on the stage until the room started to clap.

Almost jumping up, Chanyeol clapped along with the rest of the people, greeting your arrival, and feeling a ridiculous smile spread across his face at the sight of you. Aside from being completely enamored with the way the stage lights illuminated your beauty and caressed your every feature – you looked so much better than he could have ever imagined; the stage _loved_ you – he also felt like he was about to receive the gift of his life as soon as he'd hear you play and he could not wait for it.

A creature this magical could only create magic, after all.

As soon as you touched the first tiles on the grand piano, the whole room suddenly belonged to you, and Chanyeol found himself witnessing a miracle. He knew you already owned _his_ heart, but this was the first time he saw you captivate the soul of every single person in the audience.

According to the printed schedule of your recital that he’d found on his seat, you were playing Chopin. And, although Chanyeol couldn’t recognize the piece, – he was certain you’ve never played it to him before, – the composer suddenly became his favorite one. Although, he knew that if you’d played a piece by someone else, Chanyeol would have loved it just as much.

Everything on stage seemed to follow you – from the lights overhead to the musical notes – and it was a breathtaking sight. Everyone in the audience knew that although Chopin created the piece, it was _your_ hands that had gripped their hearts tight, nearly pulling them out of their chests as the melody took a heartbreaking turn.

As he listened to the smooth flow of the music and watched your features, – you didn’t look concentrated, but rather relaxed: as if you were finally doing something that you were born to do, – Chanyeol found himself wandering through a world you created with your interpretation of Chopin’s waltz. And, although he’s listened to classical music in the past, he’s never seen colors like this before.

The room was painted pink, then blue, then orange – all while the stage lights remained golden – and Chanyeol barely resisted the urge to turn to the people around him and brag to them that this was _his_ girlfriend changing the atmosphere in the venue with one gentle, yet painfully emotional chord on the piano.

He was as proud of you as he was in love with you, and the loose thoughts inside of his mind were finally starting to make sense. Listening to the musical experience you were creating for everyone—but for him, especially—on stage, he started to feel the strongest sense of purpose he’s felt in his whole life.

He suddenly wanted to write music for you. He wanted to write music about you. Hell, in that moment, every single word and every single chord that he knew was used to describe you – _you_ were his purpose.

“I love you,” he would say to you after the recital as bouquets of flowers flowed from your arms – the purple heliotropes accompanied by the pink peonies that he’d given you resting at the very top. He knew his words didn’t even begin to describe the emotions you’ve made him feel tonight, but he would still say them, feeling like he owed pouring his heart out to you because you’ve just done the same thing through your music. “I love you like I’ve never loved anyone before.”

“Chanyeol,” you’d reply, completely breathless. “I love you, too.”

He would smile – actually, he wouldn’t be able to _stop_ smiling despite how many times he felt himself tear up throughout your recital – and then he would ask you to promise him to never stop playing.

“What you were doing up there…” he’d start, shaking his head in disbelief. “You can make every person in that room fall in love with you. You can make the world stop turning and just _listen._ You have—you _are_ the talent—and the feelings—people wish they had. You are everything _I_ wish I had.”

“B-but you have me,” you’d say.

He’d shake his head, glittering admiration pouring from his eyes as he watched you, the notes you were playing mere minutes ego still echoing in his mind.

“You belong to the music just like it belongs to you,” Chanyeol would tell you. “But you share your love with us—with _me_ —and, in my heart, that’s more than enough. I wish I could put my love for you into words like you’ve put yours into music, but I can’t. Not yet. I promise you I will learn how to do it, though. I promise my words will be music and I will write them for you.”


End file.
